Kenneth Miller Live Webcast: Friday, April 4 at 7PM CT

On April 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm CDT (GMT - April 5, 2008 at 12:00 midnight), Dr. Kenneth R. Miller, a professor of biology at Brown University, will give a talk entitled God, Darwin, and Design: Lessons from the Dover Monkey Trial. Miller was a lead witness in the Dover, Pennsylvania “intelligent design” case that began in September 2005, and which has been front-page news since it started. The talk is sponsored by the The University of Texas at Austin, which is also web-casting the event, live.

The public is invited to participate in the Live Webcast of the lecture, April 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm CT (click here for times all over the world). The webcasts are very high quality, and viewers can submit questions to the speaker through our website, and hear the speaker answer several online questions in real time. The webcasting software we use requires viewers to download a small plugin, but it is very simple and quick to install.

It is recommended that participants log in to the University of Texas at Austin link several minutes before 7 PM CDT, to have time to download the required plug-in before the Webcast begins.

What is the lecture about?

It has been 80 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial, but the debate between science and religion has never been as heated as it is now. Recent efforts to introduce “intelligent design” into science classes will likely lead to a major Supreme Court ruling on the issue. Kenneth R. Miller, a professor of biology at Brown University, is a preeminent evolutionary scientist—and the author of the most widely used high school biology textbook in America. He is perfectly suited to address this controversial topic on many fronts.

The Webcast will also be archived, so click here to view it after the 4th.

Ken is a terrific lecturer - as students in his introductory biology course at Brown can attest - and I’ve heard him several times over the years, starting with his very first debate against a creationist that was held at Brown (I was involved in organizing that debate as the sole “evolutionist” on an ad hoc campus “Origins” committee) - so I strongly encourage those of you who haven’t heard him yet to hear the webcast. Alas I am going to hear the New York Philharmonic Orchestra perform tonight at Lincoln Center, but perhaps I can download this lecture later.

Huckabee – what FRACKING GOD-DAMNED HYPOCRITE. I live in Arkansas, so I get first hand experience with how “liberal” “secular” people in our schools and universities exclude ID. Yeah, right. Half our fracking students are completely ignorant about biology because so many are taught creationism outright, or evolution isn’t taught at all in the classrooms. We just had an ID speaker on campus. The campus is surrounded by Ministries. Here’s a sample question for a “World History” class taught at a local public high school.…

True or False

“38. Sin and Death began as a result of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.”

That son-of-a-bitch knows damn good and well what is going on here. 80% of the K-12 classrooms don’t teach evolution because the fundies have effectively excluded it. The folks in the department of education know it, but can’t say anything because they fear they will loose their fracking jobs. What a liar.

OK guys, here is a wonderful lesson from the Dover trial, a beautiful gift from Judge Jones in the tradition of free thought:

“Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem and its logical consequences cannot be properly taught in the School District of Dover Pennsylvania since Judge Jones ruled it unconstitutional to critically study the ideas of Charles Darwin. I’m grateful that the internet still provides a means for spreading the truth.”

I’m quoting Scordova from UD here. Mr. Miller and friends: Do you really think the average person watching this online debate isn’t struck by the irony of you so-called open minded types and your appeals to the legal system to impose the hegemony of your faith-based views? Us average Joes look at this PD website and the obviousness of your obsession with the controversy that doesn’t exist and laugh.

Hope that all of you were able to view the podcast. If not, maybe University of Texas has archived it. I was in Austin for the talk. I have seen it several times before. Don’t know how he does it, but each time, Ken makes it a better presentation !!

I agree - the proprietary player is a pain; the pause and jump-to fuctions seemed to be messed up also. The actual presentation doesn’t start until after 11 minutes into the archived video–and I hate waiting.

“Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem and its logical consequences cannot be properly taught in the School District of Dover Pennsylvania since Judge Jones ruled it unconstitutional to critically study the ideas of Charles Darwin. I’m grateful that the internet still provides a means for spreading the truth.”

Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem _has_ no logical consequences. As proved and elaborated in the Price Equation (Price, G.R. 1972. Fisher’s “fundamental theorem” made clear. Annals of Human Genetics36:129-140) any elaboration of the Fundamental Theorem leads to a mathematical tautology - that is, Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem can never be false, for any observed population.

It can’t be false, because it relies on outside construction of the covariance measure for survivability versus “intensity” of a particular characteristic. If the Price equation is in error, then that doesn’t mean evolution has somehow failed - it means you’ve plugged in the wrong made-up numbers.

And, since it can’t be false, Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem has no predictive value. It’s a way of organizing the data you already have, not of drawing new conclusions. It therefore has no logical consequences, and anyone who tries to tell you it does is lying.